Bunion protector



June 12, 1951- E. c. RYAN BUNION PROTECTOR Filed April 25,.l949

INVENiOR.

EL L A a. R YA 1v ATTORNEY 4 Patented June 12, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE BUNION PltOT EC'IOR Ella Ryan, National City, Calif.

' L Application April 25, 1949, Serial No. 89,460

My invention relates to bunion protectors, Particularly those employedfor giving comfort to the bunion while shielding the same from rubbingcontacts with the shoe of the wearer, and its objects are to provide abetter means of disguising, masking and protectin the bunion whileeliminating discomfort to the patient; to form and apply the protectorto the human foot to cover a bunion thereon in such a manner as to causethe foot to assume an undistorted shape and the shoe in which such footis confined a normal appearance, without said protector pressing uponand acting as a reducer of the bunion and without unsightly bulges beingformed in the upper of the shoe; to hold said protector securely inplace without undue tightness to the foot or any compression of thebunion, and without requiring the employment of a wider or speciallyconstructed shoe on account of said protector; to effectually preventany abrasion of the skin or cutting of the flesh of the foot broughtabout through the displacement or implacement of elastic bands used inanchorin the protector; to permit 'the wearer of the protector to wearsmaller normal sized shoes than he or she would ordinarily choosebecause of the presence of the bunion, and to guard against thewrinkling of the shoes because of its presence; to prevent or removecallouses formed under the ball of the foot; to allow the protector tobe easily fitted to the foot over the bunion in the required positionand readily to be removed'therefrom, and generally to provide a devicewhich is simple and economical of construction, efficient in action andof prolonged life and durability. These and other objects will appearfrom the drawing and as hereinafter more fully set forth and described.

I am aware that there are at the present time on the market bunionreducers consisting of shells or husks, the hard inner walls of whichcontacting and pressing against the bunion. tend to compress it so as toflatten or reduce the curvature of its contours, and thereby to causethe foot to assume a less unsightly appearance; but such reducers areopen to the serious objection that when applied and worn the compressionof the bunion causes pain or discomfort, the foot is distorted, and thebunion exposed to rubbing and abrasive contacts. vice, however, is notin any sense a bunion reducer, though it does make a foot appearsmaller, but is employed to shield, mask and guard the bunion but not topress down upon or against it to any material extent, while at the sametime allowing the'foot to be introduced into a normal 2 Claims.

My improved deshoe without distortion of the shoe or change in theappearance thereof. Such bunion protector, as herein described, is theoutcome of intensive study, development and continued experimentation bymyself in accomplishing and arriving at the present results, includingits successful application and use upon the bunions of my own feet aswell as upon the feet of others where such employment was indicated anddesired.

Attention is hereby directed to the accompanying drawing, illustrating apreferred form of my invention, in which similar numerals of designationrefer to similar parts throughout the several views, and in which,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a human foot, showing the applicationthereto of my improved bunion masking protector;

Fig. 2 is a view of the shell-like cover lookin downwardly upon theoutside thereof, and showing part thereof cut away for the purpose ofbetter illustration of the recessed sponge rubber pad and elasticattachment bands;

Fig. 3 is an end view of the shell-like cover shown in Fig. 2, lookingin the direction of the arrows 3--3;

Fig. 4 is aview of-theshell-like cover, looking at the inside thereof,the lining, pad andattachment bands bein removed;

Fig. 5 is a view of the recessed sponge rubber pad showing the sameremoved from the cover and adjacent parts; 7

Fig. 6 is a section of the inner end of the pad 5 on line 66 of Fig. 5looking in the direction of the arrows, and

Fig. '7 is a perspective view of the curved sheath employed foranchorage of the outer ends of the attachment bands.

Referring to the drawing, the form of my bunion protector there showncomprises, the shelllike cover 8, elastic attachment bands 9 and I0, andthe anchorage sheath H.

For the shell-like cover 8, I preferably employ a thin walled strip ofleather forming a shield and shaped to conform with the edge of aperfect human foot l6 adjacent to the big toe I! thereof, the wall ofsaid shield being made sufficiently rigid to maintain its shape at alltimes, and particularly after being introduced into a shoe ashereinafter set forth. To accomplish such rigidity, the leather may besized, or treated in any way well understood in the art, or there may beapplied to the inner face of said cover a coating of cement, plastic,adhesive or other stiffening material. Also, if desired the said shieldmay be made of plastic or other suitable cloth or other suitablematerial, and is carefully depressed and shaped to conformto the shapeCovering the face of the said pad [2, is fitted the lining 5, preferablyof white suede" leather, but may be made of chamois skin, soft of thepad I2 and recess l3 thereofythe edges: of said lining being cemented,glued, stitched or otherwise secured to the edges of said shield.

Thus, the wall of the contoured recess I3 and slopes of the pad I 2leading thereto, together with the fitted lining l5, are carefullyshaped to shield, mask and confine the bunion free of abrasive contactsand at the same time effectually to guard against compression andreduction thereof; such pressure as may be applied to or encountered bythe outer face of the cover being diverted from the bunion andtransferred to the extended portions of such cover in actual contactwith the side of the foot on either side of the bunion. Accordingly, aswill be observed from the drawing, the rear portion of the shell-likecover 8 is elongated and contoured to extend backwardly for asubstantial distance so as to conform with the adjacent contacting sideof the foot, while the front portion is broadened and thickened andcontoured to conform with the contacting sides of the shoe and footadjacent to the big toe ll; care being taken to have the forward end ofsuch front portion to swing away from said toe so as laterally not tocontact and press against the same and to distort and force said toeagainst the other toes, all of which toes are thereby freed fromsqueezing contacts.

It is therefore apparent that upon so confining the bunion within thehard shelled cover and attaching said cover to the foot as above setforth, and upon the inserting of the foot so equipped within the shoe ofthe wearer, the said cover will not only protect the bunion from rubbingcontact with itself and with the wall of the upper of the shoe, butthen, because of the exterior flowing contour thereof, will also serveto prevent the formation of unsightly bulges in the said wall adjacentto the bunion.

For anchorage of the cover 8, I preferably employ the sheath l I, formedfrom a strip of sheet material which is curved to fit the outside edgeof the foot back of the little toe thereof and to which is cementedglued, stitched or otherwise secured, top and bottom, the outer ends ofthe elastic bands 9 and ID, whose inner ends are like wise secured tothe top and bottom of the inside wall of the cover 8. The sheath II ispreferably of leather, but may be of any suitable material, and is linedwith a layer of material similar to the lining I5 to insure smoothcontact with the adjacent side of the foot. The elastic bands 9 and I!)are located so as to cross the top and bottom of the foot at its widestpoint, and are carefully positioned so as not to make possible contactwith the big toe IT, and so at all times to avoid displacement ordistortion of the same. Care should also be taken to avoid the crossingof the foot by either of said bands in the area between the bunion andthe heelportion of the foot, since in such case the bands would notserve to hold from displacement the protector in the position requiredfor shielding and anchoring the bunion and for giving normal appearanceto the cificforms without departing from the spirit or essentialcharacteristics thereof. The present embodiments, as above set forth aretherefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and notrestrictive, the scope of my invention being indicated by the'appendedclaims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes whichmay come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims aretherefore intended to be embraced therein.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A bunion protector, comprising a hard protective shell-like cover, arecessed pad of spongelike rubber secured within said cover, a softnonabrasive lining covering the face of said pad and attached to saidcover, both said recessed pad and lining being shaped and adapted tocover and mask, a bunion of the human foot, and said shell-like coverbeing shaped to engage with said foot on each side of said bunion and toconform with the general shape of said foot and adapted to prevent theformation of unsightly'bulges in said shoe, and elastic means forsecuring said shell to said foot in said position.

2. A bunion protector, comprising a protective shell-like covercontoured to the shape of the inner Wall of a normal shoe, a recessedpad of sponge-like rubber material installed within said cover, a softnon-abrasive lining covering the face of said pad and attached to saidcover, both said recessed pad and lining being shaped and adapted tocover and mask a' bunion of said REFERENCES CITED The followingreferences are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date v 739,824 Bronnenkant Sept. 29,1903 1,471,041 Levitt Oct. 16, 1923

